Computing device with user interface for navigating a contacts list

ABSTRACT

A computing device comprises a display screen, the computing device is able to display on the screen a contact list automatically causes the relative prominence of one or more letters in one or more names to alter. For example, only the first letter of each name may be displayed; this facilitates fast scrolling through the contact list to the desired target.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to a computing device with a userinterface for navigating a contacts list. The term ‘computing device’refers to any kind of device which can process and display information,such as a personal computer or a mobile computing device. The term‘mobile computing device’ refers to any kind of mobile computing deviceincluding radio telephones, smart phones, communicators, PDAs, personalorganisers and wireless information devices.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

[0002] Computing devices, particularly mobile computing devices, arebecoming the primary tool of interpersonal communication. The contactlist stored in such devices is therefore a critical component: it is notunusual for people to use their mobile phones simply because theircontacts are readily accessible in them. However, as mobile computingdevices typically have display screens of limited size, navigating to asingle contact name or number (or indeed any specific piece ofinformation, such as a street name in a map or a word from a dictionaryetc) within a long choice list, is often tedious. For example, contactlists are often a single A-Z list, which can become very long. Thisleads to time consuming scrolling to the required entry, often in asituation in which a delay is very frustrating. Contact lists can alsobe sub-divided into groupings, such as A-F and G-L etc. A user then hasto navigate to the top group and then scroll within a list which canstill be quite long. Hence, selecting one phone contact out of a list of100 contacts typically requires either more than 10 key presses or along wait as the list is scrolled to the required entry.

[0003] Various attempts at improving menu accessibility by making moreefficient use of the available screen ‘real estate’ have been proposed.For example, EP 0844553 to Philips Electronics NV proposes auto-removingitems from a menu when they are either unavailable (because the user haslocked them against use) or because the user does not use them withadequate frequency. U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,405 to Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd.discloses a computer screen which can show only a single row of icons;because there are many more functions than can be accommodated in thesingle row, the icons associated with different functions are orderedinto several rows. If a particular function is used very frequently,then it can be promoted to the row which is displayed as a default, sosaving the user time in navigating down to it. The displayed menu row ineffect becomes a list of functions which are the most commonly used. Asimilar approach of placing the most used functions into a particularmenu list of the most commonly used functions is shown also in EP 891066to Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd. Reference may also be made to U.S. Pat. No.5,434,591 to Hitachi, Ltd., which shows a scrolling method in whichscrolling over a map causing certain features of the map to be omittedfor clarity. In common with the other cited art, this document does nothowever disclose any application to the problem of effectively scrollingthrough the long lists of names or words found in a contacts list.

[0004] On a more theoretical basis, an effective user interface enablesthe user to comprehend the changing internal status of the computingdevice as navigation proceeds. For example, to select or initiate afunction (e.g. to open an address book function, enter a PIN securitynumber or to alter the ring melody) a user has to understand (a) how tonavigate to that function in order to select that function and (b) thatthe status of the telephone is such that the function can be selected orinitiated. The technical problems of effectively (i) enabling theinternal state to facilitate navigating through long contact lists and(ii) enabling the user to understand this changing internal state haveto date been inadequately addressed. Directly correlated with the latterfactor, effective understanding, is the ease and speed of navigation.The object of the present invention is to provide an improved form ofuser interface which addresses these technical problems.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0005] According to the invention there is provided a computing devicecomprising a display screen, the computing device being able to displayon the screen a contact list of several names or words, in which thestep of scrolling through the contact list automatically causes therelative prominence of one or more letters in one or more names or wordsto alter, wherein scrolling through the list of names automaticallycauses the relative prominence of one or more letters in one or morenames in the contacts list to alter only where the scrolling speedexceeds a pre-defined threshold.

[0006] By altering the relative prominence in this way, fast scrollingto the target entry in the contacts list is facilitated. The relativeprominence may alter by one or more of the following occurring:

[0007] (i) the colour or grey scale level changing, with letters ornumerals at or towards the front of a name or word being displayed in amore prominent colour or grey scale;

[0008] (ii) the relative size changing, with letters or numerals at ortowards the front of a name or word being displayed in a more prominentsize;

[0009] (iii) letters or numerals, excluding at least the first letter ornumeral of a name or word, not being displayed in full;

[0010] (iv) names or words, excluding at least the whole or part of thefirst name or word in a functional grouping of names or words, not beingdisplayed in full.

[0011] In one implementation, the scrolling speed and/or scrollingduration determines which of options (i) to (iv), or combinations ofthese options, occur. Typically also, scrolling through the list ofnames automatically causes the relative prominence of one or moreletters in one or more names in the contacts list to alter only wherethe contacts list is greater than a predefined length.

[0012] In addition, scrolling through the list of names mayautomatically cause the relative prominence of one or more letters inone or more names in the contacts list to alter only where the scrollingspeed exceeds a pre-defined threshold. Hence, only as the scrollingvelocity is increased by a user beyond a set level is the featureinvoked; conversely, as the scrolling velocity drops below this level(e.g. as the target is approached), the contact list reverts to a normalrepresentation of its names and words.

[0013] In another aspect, there is a computer program which, whenrunning on a computing device, causes the computing device to operate asa computing device as defined above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] The invention will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

[0015]FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a mobile computing device, showing aconventional contact list;

[0016]FIGS. 2 and 3 are views of the screen of a mobile computing devicewhich implements the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] As mobile phones become more functionally rich, they arefrequently the main devices by which users store and access information.This is particularly true with contact information. It is not unusualfor people to use their mobile phones simply because their contacts arereadily accessible in them.

[0018] However, as mobile phones typically have limited display screensizes, navigating to a single contact name or number within a longchoice list, is often tedious. As noted earlier, selecting one phonecontact out of a list of 100 contacts often requires more than 10 keypresses or a long wait as the list is scrolled to the required entry.

[0019] An implementation of the present invention, referred to asZoomScroll, proposes user interface improvements that can be made tosmall screen devices that dramatically aid the speed and accuracy bywhich users can navigate to a single piece of information that wouldtypically be displayed within a long contacts list.

[0020] The maximum speed by which a user can assimilate scrolling dataon a small screen is not limited by technology, but by the users'reaction time.

[0021] In choosing a single contact from a list of 100 or more, a userwould typically be faced with the start of the list (Aardvark in FIG. 1below) and, say, the next 5-6 entries, depending on the screen size andresolution. If their required contact were somewhere in the middle oftheir list, they would have to scroll the equivalent of up to 10 screensto get near their entry.

[0022] System designers aid the user by speeding the scroll time whilsta scroll button/icon remains selected. When the user nears theirdestination, they typically slow the speed down by letting go of theselected scroll button/key. They might then have to nudge the list up ordown a few places before landing on their desired entry.

[0023] In conventional systems, speeding the scroll time beyond thecapability of the user to absorb the information would only result inthe user overshooting or undershooting their target contact. In otherwords, users of conventional systems are unable to easily navigateinformation within a fast moving list. However, the user's ability toassimilate information within such a fast moving list can be improved byemphasising “Signal” information and removing or de-emphasising “Noise”information from that list.

[0024] Signal in the context of scrolling, is any information that aidsthe users' navigation. For example, the user typically requires only thefirst few characters of a name to navigate up or down the listalphabetically. Those first few characters can be regarded as Signalcharacters and can be enhanced by making them bold.

[0025] Conversely, Noise, in the context of scrolling is any informationthat adds little or nothing to the users' navigation. All characters tothe right of the Signal characters (assuming Western alphabets) areNoise and can be de-emphasised to aid navigation.

[0026]FIG. 2 shows one implementation of the invention, where the firstcharacter has been made bold, the second a lesser grey scale, whilst theNoise characters have been greyed out.

[0027] In addition, the font in FIG. 2 has been increased to helplegibility. FIG. 3 shows an enhancement, whereby the font size continuesto be increased (i.e. the font increases as the user scrolls from FIG.1, through FIG. 2 to FIG. 3). FIG. 3 also illustrates the absence offurther noise characters, leaving only the emboldened first letter ofevery entry.

[0028] Effective scrolling at a significantly increased scroll rate canbe achieved using Zoom Scroll; the scrolling speed will usually be setto increase as a scroll continues, up to a pre-defined maximum. Oneuseful feature of Zoom Scroll is the possibility of automaticallyreducing the scroll speed at or approaching pre-defined names or wordsin a list. For example, when scrolling through an A-Z alphabetical listof names, scrolling speed could be automatically set to reduceprogressively as a name beginning with a new letter of the alphabet wasapproached, only to speed up again as soon as that name had been passed.This is similar to the way a car will slow down as a speed hump on aroad is approached, only to speed up once it is passed.

[0029] The implementation could be tuned such that at maximumZoomScroll, the zoom displays a single screen-sized character at a time.However, in terms of deciding how many zoom levels the system supports,it should be noted that it might not be desirable to store or displaytoo large a font or too many fonts. The design decision will be weighedup along side memory requirements, software and processor capability aswell as screen size. Furthermore, where lists are not long enough tojustify ZoomScroll, (e.g. less than 2-3 screens in length) it could beautomatically disabled or minimised.

[0030] ZoomScroll is not limited in application to contacts lists butcan be applied to any ordered choice list, such as a street name in amap index or a word from a dictionary.

[0031] Hence, the term ‘contacts list’ used in this specification can bethought of as covering not only contact names which can provide contactdata for a telephone dialler or e-mail etc. application, but in fact anyordered list of names or words presented to the user in a format througha user can scroll.

[0032] ZoomScroll can be optimised when used in conjunction withhardware controls that are able to detect harder or software pressure,but the system works perfectly well with standard membrane type keys.

1. A computing device comprising a display screen, the computing devicebeing able to display on the screen a contact list of several names orwords, in which the step of scrolling through the contact listautomatically causes the relative prominence of one or more letters inone or more names or words to alter, wherein scrolling through the listof names automatically causes the relative prominence of one or moreletters in one or more names in the contacts list to alter only wherethe scrolling speed exceeds a pre-defined threshold.
 2. The computingdevice of claim 1 in which the relative prominence alters by one or moreof the following occurring: (i) the colour or grey scale level changing,with letters or numerals at or towards the front of a name or word beingdisplayed in a more prominent colour or grey scale; (ii) the relativesize changing, with letters or numerals at or towards the front of aname or word being displayed in a more prominent size; (iii) letters ornumerals, excluding at least the first letter or numeral of a name orword, not being displayed in full; (iv) names or words, excluding atleast the whole or part of the first name or word in a functionalgrouping of names or words, not being displayed in full.
 3. Thecomputing device of claim 2 in which the scrolling speed and/orscrolling duration determines which of options (i) to (iv), orcombinations of options (i) to (iv) occur.
 4. The computing device ofclaim 1-3 in which scrolling through the list of names automaticallycauses the relative prominence of one or more letters in one or morenames to alter only where the list is greater than a predefined length.5. The computing device as claimed in any preceding claim, being amobile computing device.
 6. A computer program which, when running on acomputing device, causes the computing device to display on a screen acontact list of several names or words, and further automaticallycauses, when a user scrolls through the contact list, the relativeprominence of one or more letters in one or more names or words toalter; wherein the program automatically causes, when the user scrollsthrough the list of names, the relative prominence of one or moreletters in one or more names in the contacts list to alter only wherethe scrolling speed exceeds a pre-defined threshold.
 7. The computerprogram of claim 6 which results in the relative prominence altering bycausing one or more of the following to occur: (i) the colour or greyscale level changing, with letters or numerals at or towards the frontof a name or word being displayed in a more prominent colour or greyscale; (ii) the relative size changing, with letters or numerals at ortowards the front of a name or word being displayed in a more prominentsize; (iii) letters or numerals, excluding at least the first letter ornumeral of a name or word, not being displayed in fill; (iv) names orwords, excluding at least the whole or part of the first name or word ina functional grouping of names or words, not being displayed in full. 8.The computer program of claim 7 which enables the scrolling speed and/orscrolling duration to determine which of options (i) to (iv), orcombinations of options (i) to (iv) occur.
 9. The computer program ofclaim 7 which enables scrolling through the list of names toautomatically cause the relative prominence of one or more letters inone or more names to alter only where the list is greater than apredefined length.